Sam the Chemist
by KitKatt0430
Summary: In which Len really wants to know why Barry called him Lenny, Barry fesses up to basing all his 'criminal' alter egos on an annoying college roommate, and eventually one of them is going to catch on to how they're both flirting.


Summary: In which Len really wants to know why Barry called him Lenny, Barry fesses up to basing all his 'criminal' alter egos on an annoying college roommate, and eventually one of them is going to catch on to how they're both flirting.

Notes: For Barry Allen Week 2 Prompt - Undercover

_**Sam the Chemist**_

"Alright, alright, you win," Barry conceded with a laugh. He still thought it was a tie, but it wasn't worth arguing the point with Len. Besides... he was rather curious to know what Len planned to ask.

"Any question," Len reminded him, smirk firmly in place. "You have to answer no matter what."

"Any question within reason," Barry retorted. "You add the 'within reason' clause yourself, so don't go forgetting that now you've won."

Len rolled his eyes. "Whatever. How the hell did you come up with 'Sam' as your criminal tech persona? Because that was awful."

"That's your question?" Barry blinked in confusion. "Seriously. Any question at all and you're asking about Sam?"

"It was memorably terrible acting, Scarlet. So why Sam? And why'd you call me Lenny of all things?"

"Technically that is now two questions, but because I'm a magnanimous person, I'll answer them both," Barry teased. "First of all, Sam was a masterpiece of acting, you just didn't like the character," Barry snickered when Len rolled his eyes again. "Okay, so sophomore year at college, my roommate was Sam Dreyer and he was something of a gray hat hacker with absolutely zero actual skill for hacking. And he was constantly high, so arguably I was doing him a favor portraying him as competent as he thought he was instead of his actual competency level."

"So, what, did you turn the guy in?"

"No, of course not. He was obnoxious and consistently smelled of weed - sometimes strongly enough that I'm pretty sure I was getting slightly high off of just being in the same room as him - but he was tidy and kept to his side of the room. I wasn't going to risk losing a fairly decent roommate just because I didn't approve of some of his habits. And the weed thing didn't bother me."

"You scored weed off him, didn't you?"

"Does it count as 'scoring weed' off him if he baked brownies and forgot which batch had the marijuana and I lost a day because of it?" Barry snickered when Len raised an eyebrow. "What I remember of that day is fun, so at least it wasn't a bad trip. Anyway, it was his shitty hacking skills that got him into trouble because he hacked the university towards the end of the school year and ended up arrested for it. So I had the dorm room to myself for the last few weeks before summer as a result. He was failing calculus and wanted to 'fix' his GPA. Anyway, that was Sam whom I did a pitch perfect impression of. Besides, that was tame compared to what Felicity is like and she actually was a black hat hacker in college. Also a goth, which is really weird to imagine, never mind see the actual pictures." Barry shrugged, "I was posing as a tech guy, so I acted like a tech guy."

"I still think you're just a bad actor," Len muttered, giving Barry a knowing look that made him blush.

"Sam was also the basis for my 'Chemist' persona when I infiltrated the gun runners with Ralph. They wanted to keep working with me," Barry bragged.

"Oh, really. And what was the Chemist like?"

"The Chemist was Sam's online handle when he was being a hacker. He attempted to portray himself as actually being badass, but alas..."

"Not so badass."

"No so much, no," Barry agreed. "He was a chemistry major and possibly involved in some petty arson and pipe bombs in some abandoned fields near the college, but..." Barry shrugged. "I borrowed the name and made the character actually be a badass. So I'm not an awful actor, okay?"

"If you say so."

"That's the same tone Iris uses when she tells Joe 'okay Boomer,'" Barry griped.

"Is it? How interesting."

"You're an ass. Maybe I won't answer your second question after all."

"No, no, I get it. You calling me 'Lenny' was just your way of staying in character." Len shrugged and deliberately did not look at Barry.

"It's what Lisa was calling you and... I wanted to know what'd be like to call you that myself. Figured I'd never have another good excuse to do it, so..." Barry smirked. "It rolled off the tongue very nicely, I have to say. If I thought you'd let me get away with it, I'd be calling you Lenny all the time."

"Barry..." Len's voice sounded caught somewhere between strangled and flustered. "Are you hitting on me?"

"It's about time you figured that out." Barry's smirk turned impish.

This was going to be fun.


End file.
